Omar Esterly is married to his job. But when Omar sets his sights on a potential, family-oriented client, his confirmed bachelorhood becomes a problem. Fortunately, his friend and employee, Devi Boss, has the perfect plan…

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly Devi’s plan to become her friend’s fake fiancée. Lies aren’t her style. However, Omar offers her a big, beautiful raise—enough to track down the missing father she’s never known—and Devi reluctantly agrees to the whole engagement hoax…

This was supposed to be a no-strings-attached win-win for both Devi and Omar, but when they cross the line between friendship and…well, something more, Devi realizes she’s made a huge mistake that just might cost her both job and friend—falling for her fiancé.

This friends-to-lovers, fake-fiancée tale is both fun and cute and exactly what you’d expect from this sort of read. Omar is a gorgeous, rich businessman hoping to seal the deal of his life, but there’s a catch – he needs a wife, or a family, or failing that the promise of one in his near future. Except Omar has no intention of getting married or having a family – the guy barely even has time to date. In fact the only woman he spends much time with is his assistant, Devi… How convenient.

Even though I knew where things were going before I even picked this book up, I still thought it was nice that Devi had some reservations about lying. She’s a friendly, gregarious woman and she doesn’t like lying to people, so it was nice that she questioned Omar’s idea and his ethics about the whole thing. Even though I knew she’d cave. In fact I just liked Devi. She’s fun and funny, and I loved how she pulls Omar out of his comfort zone. The running joke and use of Aladdin’s A Whole New World was very cute, if a little, er, inappropriate during one scene. (But amusing.)

Omar is a typical alpha hero with a sad childhood. His behaviour isn’t always perfect, yet at other times he’s sweet and romantic and adorable. A little less pig-headed stubbornness wouldn’t have gone amiss, but his big apology scene was pretty special. (And am I the only person not expecting a Bradley Cooper lookalike with a name like Omar?I have to admit the misleading names made me a little sad.)

If you like friends-to-lovers, fake fiancées or even boss/secretary tropes, then you’ll know what to expect from this and will probably find plenty to enjoy. If you’re looking for something fun and easy with plenty of heat, this will also tick most boxes. Perhaps a little more emotional development in the relationship between the two might have been nice, but overall I enjoyed this. I’m curious to see if Omar’s younger brothers get their own tales some time.

A Friendly Engagement is out June 23rd!
Visit Christine Warner for more details.